And then we ordered a crib...

...so at least I can say we've done something (anything!) to get ready for baby's arrival. In three short months people! Just typing that gives me anxiety (and heartburn--a lovely something I wasn't experiencing until recently).

I was up the other night worrying about a variety of things, one of them being the baby's room (again). Isn't it funny that problems seem larger than life in the dark? And then the sun rises & you've got yourself a whole new perspective. I'm aware that baby won't be sleeping in this room for awhile, but my OCD self wants it all ready in time. You know, once life is perfect and organized I can concentrate on giving birth (insert laughter here)!

We decided on the Sparrow crib from Oeuf.

For now, that's the only modern element to the room. I didn't want to go too classic or predictable when it came to the crib. I was originally thinking to go the Jenny Lind route (perfect for a girl!), but this crib is gender neutral enough that if we go down the parenthood road another time (and have a boy), this will work out just perfectly. I have a bunch of vintage and thrift finds that I've been collecting for awhile now that I'm also planning to incorporate into the room...the juxtaposition of old and new is exactly what we're thinking for this room. Well, exactly what I'm thinking anyway. The husband just goes along with it.

And...my fabric samples arrived today. Hoorah!

My mom is making the bedding and yes, we're doing a bumper guard (save me the safety lectures folks, I'm aware....). I've definitely decided on the Mockingbird print from Heather Bailey's Garden District line. I ordered both samples to see how the colors translated in real life, and while I was originally leaning towards the lighter sample, I absolutely love the blue just as much! Decisions, decisions. Of which, I'd better get on soon as I just found out the folks at Fabric.com are on the move and any/all orders placed between now and the end of August will be delayed while they get themselves sorted and settled....

And yep, that's about where things stand right now. We've taken a bit of a baby nursery hiatus to work on the side hallway...what the husband affectionately refers to as Project Hallway: Part Duex. I'll be back this week with an update of how things are moving along in there. But it currently involves a whole lotta tearing out of the old carpeting, getting estimates for new, priming, painting, etc. Nothing fun, just functional at this point (for the sake of getting things done). Now if that didn't sound like an exciting, you-can't-wait-to-see update, then I don't know what does...

Bye, bye wine fridge

We just listed our wine fridge on Craigslist. Please, enjoy our crummy post pictures! I'm no photography wiz when it comes to listing things on Craigslist...but this should do for the purpose of selling something, right?

We decided to sell this baby after owning it for 5 years. It's a beaut, but unfortunately it was rarely used (when we entertain, we entertain 'til it's gone people!). It's a lovely thing to say you own, but when it's just using up energy for a lone bottle of wine, you know it's time to part with it.

I'm a bit sleep deprived today (no sooner than 3 months before baby arrives!), so I can't think of anything witty to say about selling a wine fridge. So here's the deal: 1) here's the post and 2) if you live in the Western New York area and are looking for a wine fridge, let me know! The specifics are in the post, but if you need further information I'll check with the husband first & get back to you.   

It's been awhile since I last posted on Craigslist, but I'm hoping someone takes this thing off our hands soon. In a legit, non-scamming way of course. And preferably with cash. Think of all the diapers we could buy with that wine fridge money!

I've got it in the bag

Tonight we begin the daunting task of registering for this little bambino. And by 'we' I'm referring to myself, sans husband. How he got so lucky as to get out of this one, I'll never know (all joking aside, I actually told him he didn't have to come). Really, it's for the best. I find places like Babies 'R Us tough enough to navigate when all I need is a god forsaken simple gift for someone's shower. Can you imagine the husband tagging along to register for things like breast pumps, diaper genies & swings?

I've asked my mom & sister to come along, and I've asked everyone I know via Facebook (you know, the end all, be all when it comes to life's most puzzling questions) for 'must have' baby suggestions. Man, my friends are awesome. I asked, and they offered. To the point where it's super helpful, but at the same time oh so overwhelming. In short, this is like studying for a big multiple choice exam, where every question has 35 possible answers. In the end, it's tough to know what will work for us when the baby actually gets here. So the plan is to have everyone's must-have items in the back of my head, while at the same time winging it and registering for things that I feel will work for us (we'll see how that plan goes?!)...

Since my friends & family did the dirty work for me, this leaves me plenty of time to think of more important things...you know, like a fashionable must-have diaper bag. Everything I've found is either too cutesy or blah, and screams 'diaper bag!' Until I stumbled upon Timi & Leslie bags which are legit diaper bags with style!

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Don't believe me? Check out the inside!



See? Roomy! These seem no different than the larger-than-life handbags I'm currently toting around. Except for these look like they have more compartments. Right now I'm leaning towards the second one--the Charlie--color still TBD. I'm told they're sold at our local Babies 'R Us, but we'll see about that. I should also mention that Timi & Leslie didn't pay me to say this stuff...a simple Google search turned up these babies & discovering them was like winning the diaper bag lottery. 

If you have one of these bags, or can recommend something just as stylish...spill the beans people! Knowledge is key, whether it's about a crib sheet or diaper bag...just sayin'.

At some point I will have it together...I think.

And in a perfect world, it should be right around the time this baby arrives. Which is t-minus 3.5 months folks (just typing that scares me). Let me just state for the record, that nothing seems to be together right now. Believe me, if you could see the current state of our spare bedroom (the future nursery) you wouldn't want to be friends with me. I guess that goes for the rest of our house too. It ain't pretty these days. Look, mama (to be) has no energy in this heat. I told someone the other day that if our house looked like an episode of Hoarders, I would be 100% okay with it because I just don't have the ooomph to deal with the mess.  

I got a grand total of 4 hours of sleep last night. I was up worrying about this weekend's impending yard/block sale (and all that we need to do to get ready...it's a lot) and what color the baby's room should be. You know, world problems. I'm hoping this sale (organized by some neighbors--praise Jesus) will be the kick in the ass I need to start getting some stuff done around here. I don't think I've posted a project, thrift find, or DIY project in quite some time (the reason this here blog started in the first place!). I think once I clear the clutter--physically and mentally--I'll be back on track. Central AC would certainly help matters. But then that would be asking for entirely too much, right?

And this, my friends, ends today's pitty party. Here's hoping for some more consistent blogging & motivation in the mighty near future!

This is what the rug looks like...

...when no one is home to walk on it.

...when I've cleaned and/or I'm about to welcome company (cue laughter). Not much of either is happening these days.

...when a magazine is coming to the house for a big shoot (don't get too excited, that's just a statement).

...for all of 15 minutes...or until someone walks on it & I have to straighten it for the umpteenth time that day.

But in reality, this is what the rug looks like 98% of the time....

I'm starting to question my decision to have even purchased this thing in the first place (or at least it's placement...2 days in & the thing is covered in dirt).

Looks like someone needs a rug pad...stat.

Let's see what we've been up to

In no particular order (get ready, this post is about to get all sorts of random)...

We've been living it up at the farmer's market every Saturday. Our's is awesome (betcha couldn't tell from this picture though). It gets bigger & better each year. I'm currently obsessing over fresh cherries. Like, I consume mass amounts on a weekly basis (we'll see how well that habit is working out for me when I have my glucose test in 3 short weeks). Fresh peas are also ranking high on my list. Both seasons will be over soon, and then I'll find something new to obsess over. Presumably peaches, blueberries, or something else that will give me gestational diabetes...



We've been lounging and enjoying the new front porch...

I got a new rug. Except it's not really that new. I found this runner at HomeGoods a couple of months ago. I scotch-guarded (is that a word?) the hell out of it over a month ago, folded it up and put it away in time for the home tour. What...you'd expect me to let hundreds of people with dirty shoes trapse all over this thing all day? No, I didn't think so. Then a solid month went by & I had forgotten about it. Okay, so that's not true. I just couldn't bite the bullet and put it out alright, already (I know, I know...why the hell did I buy it then). So instead, I got it out of the closet and put it in the dining room so I could look at it for over 2 weeks. The dog and cat enjoyed it, the husband kept asking why the hell it was just sitting in our dining room, and I still couldn't be bothered to put it in it's intended place. Which is the hallway that leads to our bedrooms. I'll get a picture of it one day (but don't hold your breath). I still need to get a rug pad to hold it in place because most days it's a crumpled up mess. It just doesn't stay in place. Not to mention walking on it is like going cross country skiing (minus the snow). In other words, someone will likely kill themselves on this thing before I have a chance to show you pictures. At least it's cute, right?

Speaking of the dining room, we finally got new blinds. Okay, so really we got these a week before the home tour. I'm nothing if not timely with my updates...



Last weekend our backyard was in our neighborhood garden tour. This picture is from a neighbor's garden a block away. It's pretty, no? I didn't get any shots of our garden that day. Again, I'll get on that one. Hopefully one day before summer's end or before baby arrives this fall. After that, all bets are off of you ever seeing our garden until next year (I'll be sure to include pictures of the runner then too).

And get ready for this doozy...we finally tackled our side hallway. The one we use each & every day (the real, real entryway and front entryway are just for show & our best guests). This one is the husband's project--he took down the wallpaper, sanded the walls, skimcoated & then sanded them again. That was a fun process. And I say that as the pregnant person who didn't help out. I'm just taking the husband's word for it. We had the surround to the door repaired from when we got robbed last November, and had the moldings replaced from when we enclosed the doorway from our kitchen two freaking years ago (again, we're nothing but timely around here). But then the husband was out of town for almost two weeks, and this project went into a standstill.... 



So things don't look much different from what you see here (except the floors are a lot cleaner). I will definitely be posting pics and progress as we begin to work on this some more. It will help keep us accountable, and ensure that this project gets done before baby arrives. At least we hope so.

So that's what we've been up to these days! Exciting, I know. Don't be jealous.

It's a....

At some point I intended to blog a bit more. But then it got hot (really hot!), I got exhausted & busy, and my fingers swelled up to the point where typing became an issue. Okay, not totally true. But I'm already getting a glimpse into my near future. With only 4 more months to go, the wedding bands are dunzo. I'm a planner, but I certainly didn't think this 'being pregnant in the summer' thing very thoroughly. Easy pregnancy? Check! Being pregnant in this heat? Yeah, not so much...

So if you're following me on Pinterest, or have checked out my pins (and don't know me already), then you probably guessed it....

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We're beyond excited! If you recall, we were 100% convinced this baby was going to be a boy. But a few weeks before finding out, I'd secretely shifted my focus and was hoping for a girl. Needless to say, the husband was completely shocked (and excited!) to hear the news (and then there's me, who cries at the drop of a hat when I think about it...pure & utter joy I tell you!). I think it took a solid two hours for the news to sink in. But let me just tell you, we are over the moon. We're 98% on board with a name (okay, I'm 100% on board, the husband is 98%...depending on what day you ask, of course). And my mom has single handedly outfitted baby girl with an entire wardrobe for the first year of her life. To the point where I needed double the confirmation at yesterday's ultrasound that this baby was in fact a girl (it was). You can never be too sure! I mean, just think...the surprise of a boy would mean he'd be dressed very girly his first year....

I'm still working out the nursery in my head, but think I have a fairly clear vision for the plans of this room. Which is definitely not 'theme-y' or too 'baby'. Not that there is anything wrong with themey or baby...but that's just not the direction I'm heading. I'm navigating my way through Polyvore in the hopes of putting together a little mood board for baby girl's room. Inspiration for all! Plus, it keeps me on track for what I hope this lovely little room will turn out to be....

The long weekend...

I spent a long weekend in Chicago with some girlfriends, to celebrate the shower of our good friend, a fellow mom-to-be. I lost track at some point, but we counted at least 7 preggos at the shower. Needless to say, a lot of our conversations revolved around pregnancy and being a mom! When we weren't busy talking about being pregnant, we enjoyed a little shopping, a night out for dinner, and lots of time catching up. Coming home to reality, work and TWO (yep, count 'em) two bats in our house last night (don't even get me started) has been a delight in every sense of the word (insert sarcasam now).

For anyone who's curious what I'm looking like these days....well, here you go. I've had a lot of people tell me how tiny I am for being 20 weeks, but no one is taking into account that my sumo arms and ass have taken on a life of their own. We're only halfway there, I'm afraid of what I'll be looking like when we reach the homestretch (Jessica Simpson perhaps?)....

Okay, so 3 out of 5 of us are pregnant here...I should probably point out that friends #2 and #3 (on the right) are NOT with child. They've been there, done that and happily drank for the rest of us all weekend.

I've yet to venture into maternity wear at this point (the tank is Gap, the skirt Target), but my girlfriend kindly donated a whole bag full of maternity gear that should help me out over the course of the next few months. I can only live in non-maternity maxi skirts, tanks and maxi dresses for so long, you know? I'm already getting sick of the few items in my rotation, and let's not even discuss how creative I've had to get while getting dressed for work each morning. I know, I know, life could be worse. It's just hard to justify spending cold, hard cash (and lots of it) on clothes I'll be using only temporarily. I'm also coming to grips with the fact that I've got a couple of weeks left (if that) until I have to retire my wedding rings. And shoes are a bit snug these days. Please, please tell me they'll shrink back to my old size...I couldn't bear to part with an entire shoe collection!

I'll be back soon to share some ideas I'm gathering for the baby's room! If you follow me on Pinterest (find me on the link above!), you'll see that I've been posting a bunch of stuff to my baby board. I'm not big on themes or anything too baby-ish, so some of the stuff that I've been pinning might give you a good idea of what direction I'm heading...and in so many ways totally giving away our baby's gender!

Because we need another initial in our house

It's time to share a little project I created months ago! Because there's no time like the present to share some crafty love. It was one of those things I started & then let sit until a few weeks before hundreds of strangers came trapsing through our home. Nothing like a good old fashioned home tour to kick you in the ass to get things done, right?

My poor husband. We have more letter 'K's' in the house than he cares to think about. I had a growing collection of these letters long before we got married, and then hit the jackpot when I took on his last name. A first and last name with the same initial? Blows my mind. And drives my husband nuts.

So I did what any good wife would do & bought another letter K. This time for the front door. I'd seen a lot of these on Etsy, but figured they were easy enough to make myself. Which, if you know my mom, you know I'm turning into her. Growing up we'd see something we liked and she would say "I can make that". That's annoying for a teenager to hear, but as an adult it's music to my ears. Lucky for me my mom is still in her "I can make that" mode, and her daughter has followed in her footsteps!

Anyhoo, here's what you'll need:

A craft letter (I got mine from Joann's)
Sheets of felt (in my case, the more the better...you never know when you'll screw something up)
Thick twine (again, I found mine at Joann's)
A fabric doily (also from Joann's...you're sensing a theme here, no?)
Ribbon

The process was pretty simple. I started wrapping the twine around the letter and securing it to the back with a glue gun. Yep, every single layer of twine was secured with glue. I found it was best to glue on the backside, that way if I made a mistake it was pretty much hidden (or in our case, only visable to us through the glass door). Luckily the twine was so thick you really can't see any glue...one point for Katie! This process was surprisingly fast & easy. I worked on it for 2 nights, but total labor was probably about 1.5 hours. You know, the perfect amount of time to mindlessly wrap twine while watching The Bachelorette.

You can see things got tricky somewhere in the middle, which required lots of trimming and glueing on the front (gasp!). But see, no visible glue...so really, this project was a win-win for me. I'm just happy our last name doesn't begin with a Q or X. Things could be worse.

I used the felt to make rosettes. I didn't take the time to take photos of this process, but I used this tutorial that I found on Pinterest. This one was for paper rosettes, but it works exactly the same for felt (to keep the flower intact, I just secured the end with a little glue). SO easy.



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And the final product! I wadded up the little fabric doily and shoved it in between the felt rosettes (again, securing it with a dab of glue). Crafting it not always glamorous or methodical...sometimes methods like "wadding" and "shoving" are necessary evils. 

The ribbon was attached with glue and straight pins for extra security. The bow is tied to a little nail at the top of the door (which all of our seasonal stuff gets attached to). I wasn't sure if one little nail would hold this baby in place, but it stood the test of time when people were in & out of our home for an entire day. Again, I can't begin to say how easy this project was. I don't know how much I spent in the end, but I'm guessing it's far less than the $35-40 + shipping price tag that I've seen out there.

And the fact that we've added another letter K to our collection? Well, that's just priceless.

White & bright...the porch is ready for visitors!

I had every intention of posting an outside update last Friday...that is until Blogger ate my post before I hit publish. Messing with a fragile pregnant woman is not a good idea. Just ask the husband...he's exhausted trying to keep up with my range of emotions!

At any rate, let's move this along, shall we? I'm sure some of you saw that we did some work on the outside of the house recently. Does anything look new to you?

Since you can all read (the title of this post made it quite obvious, no?), you don't have to be that observant to see that we finally replaced the upstairs porch railing. It's about time! The old railing was rotting & not up to code. In fact, I'll never forget the exact words our inspector said when we bought this house..."you should probably get this replaced right away...you really shouldn't invite children or drunk people out here". For reals, that's what he said. All joking aside, we took his words to heart and only invited are most well behaved (and sober) guests out onto the patio. It only took us 5 years, but we finally got around to updating things. Not only is it 1,000% safer up there, but it's definitely much better looking than what we had before (not that I'm biased or anything....just ask our neighbors, they like it too!).

This isn't the best picture of how things were looking, but this should give you somewhat of an idea of what was up there before...

The wear and tear of time & life definitely got to the old railing, and last year's roof replacement didn't help matters either.

Pretty, huh? Yikes, I know, that floor! The good news is that as ugly as things looked at that point, the roof itself was still in great shape. So we dodged a bullet there!

I don't know why, but I was totally petrified to stand out there to take these pics...you know, scared without the 'safety' of the completely unsupportive, rotting, not-up-to-code railing... 



We're totally pleased with the final results! We used the same contractor who replaced the steps and railing on our downstairs porch. Although, this time around they may have not as liked me as much, since I put the 'ol pressure on them to get the job completed for the home tour. Which was completed at 3:00 the day before the tour...no joke. Unfortunately, and old pic of our house (without the new railing) went into the tour guide. Oh well, the job was done right and on time, so I guess we can't complain!



 

The next step is to paint the off-white pillars a nice, crisp white to match the rest of the exterior. Which, the husband has plans to paint the entire house this summer. I know, he's nuts (and I'm just as nuts for not really caring at this point). I think he's biting off more than he can chew (would you look at the size of this place?!), but he's in nesting mode about as much as I am and feeling ambitious apparently!? I just hope baby has a daddy by the time this project is supposedly complete...



They're baaa-aack!

In honor of our first bat visitor of 2012, I thought I'd share the post of last year's adventures. Because frankly, I'm too tired and annoyed to even elaborate on last night's episode. Except to say that the husband has gotten really good at getting a bat out of our house.

Hmmm....perhaps he should moonlight in pest control?

Recap of a long weekend...

We relaxed. A lot.

There were no chores (except for some much needed laundry).

We bought peonies at the farmers market, even though they're growing in our garden (the world can't have too many peonies).

We tried our first non-alcoholic beer. It was awful. There's no fooling me.

We antiqued with a great girlfriend. Boy, did we antique.

We spent some time at the lake.

We grilled out & enjoyed time with family. 

We celebrated birthdays. 

We felt the baby kick for the first time (at least we think we did).

We sweat. A lot. 

We sat out on the porch. 

The end.

People are fascinated by pocket windows

Really, they are. But I'll get to that in a moment....

We're still a bit giddy with excitment from Sunday's event! Sure, it was a lot of work. And yes, by Saturday (when we were knee deep in mulch, dusting, mopping, hiding random crap in closets, etc.) we were ready to throw in the towel. But in the end it was totally worth it.

What started out as an architechtural tour 14 years ago, has slowly morphed into a 'see what people are doing with their homes' tour. It's a nosey man's dream come true! I don't think I can count the number of times the husband asked "why are we doing this again?". But I can tell you my answer was always the same--because we love our house & are happy to show it off!

Throughout the day, we consistently received the same comments about our home--how open & airy it felt, how deceivingly large it was once you were inside, how great the wall colors were & how well they flowed (which was news to me since 1. I've personally grown tired of the colors, and 2. sometimes the mix of beiges, grays & bright greens--with all of our crazy accents--feels like the inside of a circus tent). We were asked the typical questions we'd been told to expect--where did we get something, how did we make/do this or that, and what renovations we put into the house. Sadly--in addition to all the fun stuff we've done to this place--we had to admit all the non-fun stuff like replacements of the roof, furnaces, electrical, etc...snooze-fest!

I think one of the greatest comments came from a woman who loved our house because it was 'stylish and liveable'. What a huge compliment! We're all about making our home look great, but we don't ever want people to think they can't put their feet up on the coffee table or toss some pillows on the floor to get comfy on the couch. That's totally how we do things around here! Taking second place for compliments was a kind lady who remarked that HGTV should come by to take some photos of our house. I don't know that we're HGTV worthy at this point, but it was certainly nice of her to say! Overall the compliments were grand and kind, and by the end of the day the husband and I were sweaty and beaming with pride (contrary to popular belief, an 85 degree day in the middle of May is not the best day for a home tour....just sayin').

But I suppose you're wondering the top three things we were asked about all day long! So without further ado...

The pocket window

It's kind of hard to tell from this craptastic picture, but see the window to the left? It's a pocket window/door. For those of you not familiar, it functions like a normal window, but opens into a pocket in the ceiling (and based on that outstanding description, I'm beginning to wonder if a video tutorial would have been the way to go here...). At the beginning of the tour the husband foolishly asked me if he should remove the blind so that people could see how the window functions. And in my best 'I'm the wife & I know best' attitude, I told him to keep it on because no one is going to ask about it. Well, who turned out to be the fool? Not 5 seconds after uttering those words, 3 men came running over asking the husband for a presentation (needless to say the blind stayed off for the remainder of the day). People are super fascinated with this thing. I can't say the same as I'm crawling & performing acrobatics to get out onto the porch. But I suppose it's one of those features you don't see in most houses. The husband and I could not get over how many times we were asked about this window. You never know what's going to be on people's radar!

 

My mom's quilts

 

And this one in particular! People also wanted to know about our fabric window treatments & endless pillow covers. Yep, all my mom! She was around for part of the day to answer questions (she needs a business card!). But this was hands down one of the more frequent things people asked about all day. I commission my mom & her sewing skills on a regular basis, but I never realized just how lucky we were to have someone to do this stuff for us when we ask! 

 

My jewelery boards

 

Not in a million years did I think people would be asking about these. Mostly because I've had them for so long, and I just look at them as functional (not fascinating) at this point. They're $12 cork boards that I picked up at HomeGoods years ago. I had every intention of painting the frames...and then, well, life got in the way and I've had more important things to do since then. I got tired of wearing the same jewelery day in & day out, and this was an entirely fool-proof way to ensure that I'm wearing most of my stuff on a regular basis. Funny story, but when our house was robbed, the cop who responded to our call remarked that nothing had been taken from my boards. Well, duh...you're looking at around $50 worth of Forever 21 jewelry here! Theives are dumb, not stupid.

So there you have it! A little recap of this weekend's house tour. On the agenda this coming long weekend? Finally enjoying our tidy & organized home! 

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Susie Campbell Photography

Happy anniversary to us! Today we celebrate two years of marriage! So instead of house tour talk, I've decided to take a trip down memory lane. Join me, won't you? I'll be back tomorrow with a recap of Sunday's event. We're still flying high from all the lovely compliments!

  

The day after

We are exhausted. Really exhausted. But we learned this house tour was pretty awesome. And that people are nice & like to give compliments (and those with nothing nice to say kept their not so nice comments to themselves). And that the volunteers who put this event together are good, hardworking folks (it takes a village!). And the docents who worked shifts at our house are pretty awesome to take time out of their day to help us show off our home that we love so much.  

All in all, it was a success. All that hard work and doubting ourselves was totally worth it in the end. This neighborhood rocks (that was pretty evident yesterday). If you're finding City Dwellin' for the first time since visiting our house...welcome! And stick with me. I might have something interesting to say from time to time!

I'll be back tomorrow to share more stories from the tour, including the top 3 things most people asked us about. And you might be surprised....these weren't your run-of-the-mill "where'd you get that light fixture" questions!